


One-Night Stands

by DeathTrapDaisy, Gothams_Only_Wolf



Category: Avengers 2012
Genre: Angst, Bruce cant handle it, Bruce is a wet teddy bear, Humor, M/M, Natasha gives tony a kick in the ass, Natasha to the rescue, Natatsha ships Brony, Romance, Sad Bruce, Secret Crush, Tony's a slut, tony is a dumbass
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-11
Updated: 2013-07-11
Packaged: 2017-12-18 02:41:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeathTrapDaisy/pseuds/DeathTrapDaisy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gothams_Only_Wolf/pseuds/Gothams_Only_Wolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One-night stands never hurt anyone, right? Well, these had, quite a lot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	One-Night Stands

**Author's Note:**

> Gotham's_Only_Wolf  
> Thank you for the Beta! And accepting this story as a good strange. :)

 

OOO 

It was no secret that Tony was a man-whore and a cheat, everyone knew it; Pepper had learned that the hard way and after so much heartache decided she simply could not stand it anymore. The night she broke it off with him, Tony had spent the next twelve hours scouring the city for any single women that would take him. He was in self-destruct mode and didn’t care what anyone had to say about it. Since then it was a constant for him, finding any lonely slut in a bar and making a night of it sometimes he would even invite other guys if they seemed like they weren’t going to be a spoilsport about sharing their girlfriends, fiancés or wives. 

Nobody suffered more from Tony’s self destructive behavior than Bruce. They had grown to be such close friends that Bruce was the only one that could see past the self destruction to the darkness inside Tony that made him not give a fuck about himself or anyone else.

Bruce watched numerous women and men come and go at Tony’s side, surely any best friend would be concerned but Bruce had learned that he felt more than that. It had been more than that for a long time, since the day Bruce returned from Hulking out and everyone had informed him of the way The Hulk had caught Tony out of the sky.

Bruce knew himself and he knew the Hulk; he’s everything inside himself that fights for what he loves. The Hulk fights for things Bruce cannot bring himself to say, no matter how much he wants too.

 Today was another one of those days, Tony came trudging into the Lab late in the day and quipped a “hi” in Bruce’s direction, Bruce waved and tried not to noticed the hickey on Tony’s neck underneath his ear. It hurt him that he noticed every time Tony came to him with a new one, every hickey was like a bruise on Bruce’s heart.

 “Hey, Tony. Another late night?” he asked and wished he hadn’t, Tony gave him a lopsided grin and nodded.

 “Oh my God, Bruce, I had such a night. This guy pretty much threw himself at me, brought his sister in too. They were some pretty fucked up sons of bitc-“ Tony stopped when he noticed the look of disgust on Bruce’s face just before he turned away shaking his head. “Anyway, you probably don’t want to know...” He trailed off and sat down at his desk and started on some blueprints for a few new projects he had been thinking about.

 “Whatever you do on your own time is none of my business.” Bruce replied with a flat tone that Tony immediately recognized as the tone he uses when he doesn’t want to pick a fight though he’s angry about something.

 “What’s the matter Bruce? Come on spill the beans.” Tony quipped playfully as he got up and pat him on his shoulder, Bruce flinched away and Tony pulled his hand back. “C’mon Brucey, is this because I didn’t invite you? We could have a threesome sometime what do ya say?” Tony goaded knowing full well Bruce would never go for that kind of thing not in a million years.

 “Absolutely not.” He snapped and Tony pulled away, realizing maybe this isn’t something he can fix by joking around.

 “Relax about it big guy, its just sex.” Tony replied with a scoff moving back to his desk. 

“Not to me.” Bruce mumbled to himself knowing Tony didn’t hear him. 

“What?” he quipped back from his desk and Bruce shook his head. 

“I didn’t say anything.” 

The next morning Bruce and Tony were supposed to go out for coffee and get Bruce 'out of the lab lights,' in Tony’s words, for a few hours, Bruce stood outside his door and knocked lightly and the door was opened by a busty dark haired girl that didn’t care her boobs were hanging out of Tony’s button up shirt and she wasn’t wearing any pants, Bruce modestly averted his eyes. 

“Hey Stark, there’s a guy here to see you.” She called out and smacked her bubble gum annoyingly, Tony staggered into view and wrapped an arm around her. 

“Hey, Bruce! I almost forgot about our coffee date.” He said squeezing the voluptuous hip in his hand, Bruce looked at the ground and hated the way the sight in front of him made his heart ache. “’Less you wanted to stay here and have that threesome we talked about?” he quipped playfully and winked, Bruce frowned and stayed staring at the ground. 

“You know what, I’m out of here.” Bruce replied and turned waving a hand. 

“Bruce come on don’t be like that!” Tony called out and Bruce kept walking, he knew if he turned around Tony would see his watery eyes and the tears would start to fall. He knew he had not right to feel that way but he simply couldn’t stop himself, in all honesty Tony had been the reason he agreed to move into the Tower to begin with. 

Tony didn’t try to call and Bruce had been purposefully avoiding the lab so he wouldn’t have to see him, Bruce couldnt stand to see him with so many people like that. He couldn’t stand to see the man he loves chasing every tale he can find without even taking one glance in his direction. Most of all though, Bruce couldn’t stand to see Tony giving himself away so easily, he deserved more than what he was settling for. Bruce knew deep down the reason Tony was acting this way is because he felt guilty for losing Pepper. 

Bruce couldn’t stand to think of his genius, funny, smart, secretly sweet Tony giving himself away for so cheap a price. If he couldn’t stop him well, he didn’t have to hang around and watch it either. 

OOO

 Tony sighed as he sat in the lab completely alone, he didn’t quite understand why Bruce was so mad about the spoiled coffee plans, they had cancelled plans many times in the past but he had never been this upset. The fact he was avoiding the lab all together was proof enough how upset his Science Bro was, he couldn’t stay out of the lab for longer than five hours sleep included without coming back. It had been three days.

Natasha came walking into the lab with some files in her hand and Tony glanced up. 

“Dr. Banner, I have some files for you to-“ she stopped when she realized she wasn’t talking to anyone. 

“Bruce isn’t here.” Tony called out and spun a bolt on his desk sadly with his chin resting on his palm. 

“Where is he?” she asked setting the files down anyway, noticing right away that Tony looked like Hell. 

“In his quarters according to JARVIS.” She nodded taking a moment to lean on the edge of his desk next to his chair, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“What’s going on?” she deadpanned knowing anytime they are separated with one of them looking this sad something wasn’t right. 

“I think Bruce hates me.” He mumbled back, she hummed in acknowledgement. 

“I can’t say I blame him.” She quipped playfully and Tony only sighed, he was way bent out of shape if he had no come back for that one. “What happened?” she asked softly and he shrugged. 

“We had plans to get coffee and I forgot about it.” He replied and she cringed with a hiss, Tony turned up to look at her with a face that said ‘Is it that bad?’ 

“Well, that’s not good.” She replied and he nodded. 

“I don’t think he has ever been this mad at me, I mean with our weird schedules we have to cancel plans all the time, I don’t know why this time was so much worse.” He said in defeat spinning the bolt again on the table with his fingers.

 “Why did you cancel?” she asked and Tony shrugged. 

“One of my one night stands didn’t leave until the morning so I was late getting-“ he stopped when Natasha hissed like the information burned. “What?” 

“You really don’t know huh?” she sympathized and shook her head sadly for him. 

“Don’t know what?” her shoulders slumped. 

“Did you ever stop to think maybe every time he sees you with all these different people he thinks ‘Will he date anyone before he’ll date me?’” she clarified and Tony’s eyes widened. 

“But Bruce, he doesn’t, he wouldn’t like me.” Tony replied and stared at his desk not so sure about that anymore, it made sense when he stopped to actually think about it. 

“Tony, Tony, Tony, for a genius you’re pretty damn stupid when it matters.” he wasn’t exactly offended by that considering the circumstances. 

“But I couldn’t just sleep with Bruce like that, like I do with the others, he-he’s.” Tony stopped and caught the bolt in his hand and held it tight staring at it to avoid eye contact, he continued in his statement. “He’s different.” He added softly and Natasha smiled down at him fondly. 

“Different?” she pushed though she already knew, Tony just needed to admit it to himself. 

“I care too much about him to do that to him.” He explained and Natasha nodded. 

“Take him out for coffee then, stop being an asshole. Bruce is the sweetest guy I know and he loves you. God only knows why, but he does.” tapping his desk twice with her knuckles she stood up straight and made her way out of the lab leaving Tony to his own thoughts. 

OOO

Once Tony was sure he was ready for this he made his way to Bruce’s apartment and put his hands in his pockets, he stood outside of the door for a few moments before he knocked. A little while later the door opened slowly and Bruce stared out at him before he looked at the floor. 

“Bruce, I know I screwed up and I’m sor-“ 

“No it was my fault, I had no right to react like I did. Whatever you do after hours is your business, I mean it this time.” Bruce interrupted and Tony wanted it to be _their_ business more than anything. It was true what he told Natasha, he couldn’t allow himself to use Bruce like he did the others, he deserved so much better. 

“No, let me finish,” Tony butt in and Bruce shut up. “You deserve so much more than I have given you. I’ve been an enormous, ignorant, selfish idiot.” Tony added and Bruce shrugged, neither confirming nor denying it. 

“Tony, you really don’t have to apologize.” Bruce pressed but Tony stepped to him closing most of the distance between them, Bruce’s breath caught though he tried to keep from it. 

“Its not that I’ll date anyone before I’ll date you, its that I’ll fuck anyone before I’ll fuck you.” he blurted hurriedly and Bruce’s eyes widened in offense and he tried to slam the door in his face. 

“Wait, wait, that came out wrong just give me a second to explain.” Tony begged and Bruce sighed literally at his wits end, rolling his eyes. “I mean that I care too much about you to have one night stands with you, you deserve so much better than that, the reason I have sex with everyone but you is because I know I will hurt you. I tend to do that to people and I don’t want to hurt you Bruce. I never want that.” Bruce softened to the explanation and Tony sighed in relief, Bruce stared at the floor and shuffled one foot. 

“How did you figure it out?” he murmured looking at the floor, because he had tried really hard not to show his feelings for the billionaire and apparently had failed. 

“Just something Natasha said.” Tony answered softly and Bruce nodded. 

“Well, she isn’t wrong.” He finally brought his eyes up to meet with Tony’s with that adorable sheepish smile on his face that Tony had learned to love. 

“Alright so let me do this the right way. Would you like to have coffee with me in the morning?” Tony hoped and Bruce smiled, shaking his head with fondness.  

“Just us? No more surprises?” Bruce teased and Tony knew he was just being cheeky this time. 

“Just us, I promise.” He pushed earnestly and could tell that Bruce was mulling over the invitation, after a few moments he nodded with a smile. 

“Yes.” Tony beamed at him his brown eyes shining brightly. 

“Okay, I’ll pick you up at ten.”

“Nine.” Bruce corrected and crossed his arms. 

“Nine it is.” He smiled brightly stepping out of the door to turn and leave. “Well, goodnight Bruce, see you bright and early.” He called back at him and Bruce hummed in response. 

“Goodnight, Tony.” He shut the door, Tony grinning as he made his way back to the lab.

He couldn’t help himself though and stopped in his tracks before he turned around and went back knocking on the door quickly, it opened almost immediately and Bruce looked out at him puzzled. He was about to ask what he wanted when Tony tilted forward and claimed his lips in a firm kiss, Bruce gasped surprised against him but rested his hands on Tony’s chest almost immediately. Tony wrapped his arms around the scientist and kissed him thoroughly before he slowly pulled back, Bruce grinning like a high school kid after his first kiss.

Tony’s hands ran softly down Bruce’s back and he just held him for a moment, Bruce kissing him one more time softly before he gently pushed Tony away. 

“Tomorrow.” He whispered gently and Tony smiled with a nod. 

“Good night.” Tony quipped, smiling then pulled away for the last time that night. 

“Good night, Tony.” Bruce called out and blushed as he glanced at the floor, nine a.m. couldn’t come soon enough. He closed his apartment door and leant against it.  He couldn’t believe what had actually just happened, all this time he had kept his feelings inside. He should have told Tony to begin with.  

**Author's Note:**

> Short and sweet, let me know what you thought :)


End file.
